Rockable outer-jaw wrench having angularly related pipe-gripping surfaces



Jun 5. 1956 w. H. WALKER ROCKABLE OUTER-JAW WRENCH HAVING ANGULARLY RELATED PIPE-GRIFFING SURFACES Filed Nov. 8. 1952 R O T N E V m MAL/4R0 fz AVA; KER

ToRNEYs United States Patent ROCKABLE OUTER-JAW WRENCH HAVING ANGULARLY RELATED PIPE-GRIPPING SURFACES Willard H. Walker, Newark, Calif.

Application November 8, 1952, Serial No. 319,514

3 Claims. (Cl. 81-101) The present invention relates to pipe wrenches and in particular to improvements in automatically gripping and releasing pipe wrenches. The invention contemplates an improved and simplified pipe wrench having a maximum gripping action and automatically releasable jaws for providing an advantageous ratchet action without the complication of conventional ratchet arrangements.

Conventional pipe wrenches have long been known and widely employed and there have also been developed innumerable improvements therefor. There has thus been designed a variety of locking and self releasing pipe wrenches having as their purpose the provision of a ratchet type operation wherein no resetting of the wrench is needed for repeated turning of a pipe or the like. Of these developments many are too complicated to be economically feasible and others sacrifice certain of the conventional pipe wrench advantages to attain a somewhat automatic release action.

The present invention provides a completely automatic gripping and releasing action with a substantially conventional wrench so as to retain the normal advantages of the tool while adding others. This is accomplished by a novel jaw arrangement which requires no added elements or complicated movements and in operation is fully as strong and dependable as conventional wrenches and is greatly superior in case and simplicity of use over prior known wrenches.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved pipe wrench including a stationary jaw having a planar gripping surface and a movable jaw having a pair of planar and angularly related gripping surfaces and being pivotally mounted to move from a gripping position in which each angularly related surface lies at the same acute angle to the gripping surface of the stationary jaw, to a release position wherein the outer angularly related surface of said movable jaw is parallel to the stationary jaw.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

The preferred embodiment is illustrated in the drawing as follows:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pipe wrench;

Figure 2 is a side view of the wrench in engaged position upon a pipe or the like, and shows one end of the handle broken away; and

Figure 3 is a side view of the wrench in released position, and shows one end of the handle likewise broken away.

Considering now the elements of the invention, the illustrated embodiment thereof comprises a main shank 11 having one end formed as a handle for ready manual engagement of the wrench and preferably somewhat elongated to provide suitable purchase for operation. A stationary jaw 12 is attached to or formed integral with one end of main shank 11 and extends across the end thereof. Stationary jaw 12 has a generally planar surface preferably disposed slightly off-normal to shank 11, as shown, and has transverse grooves formed therein to provide an advantageous gripping surface.

Disposed in confronting relationship to stationary jaw 12 is a movable jaw 13 which extends from one end of an auxiliary or movable shank 14. Movable jaw 13 is attached to or formed integral with movable shank 14 and protrudes generally perpendicularly therefrom, as noted in more detail below. Movable shank 14 has a lesser length than main shank 11 and extends along a rear side thereof. Main and movable shanks 11 and 14 respectively are connected together by a mounting means 16 which includes a retainer member or housing 17 connected to or formed upon main shank 11 adjacent stationary jaw 12. Retainer member 17 has a through passageway 18 extending longitudinally of main shank 11, through which movable shank 14 extends in loose engagement, and is further provided with a through aperture 19 extending transversely of main shank 11 and communicating with the passageway 18. Movable shank 14 is retained within retainer member 17 by a retainer nut 21 engaging threads 22 upon movable shank 14 and having a relatively large diameter so as to extend transversely beyond retainer member 17 through aperture 19 therein. Retainer nut 21 when in engagement with movable shank 14 is thus imprisoned within retainer member 17 to retain movable shank 14 thereby, and nut 21 may have a knurled or roughened outer surface for easy manual rotation thereof to translate movable shank 14 along main shank 11.

The movable jaw and shank, 13 and 14 respectively, are not only mounted for translation relative to main shank and stationary jaw 11 and 12 respectively, but are also pivotally mounted with respect thereto by mounting means 16. This pivotal connection is produced by the provision of an oversize retaining member accommodating a limited degree of freedom of movement for the shank 14- therein and to this end the longitudinal passageway 18 is made larger than the depth of movable shank 14 and the transverse aperture 19 is made wider than the retainer nut 21. Thus movable shank 14 is free to pivot with retainer nut 21 which rests upon a spring 23 mounted on the rear side of main shank 11 and the degree of motion of movable shank 14 is limited by the size of the openings 18 and 19. Preferably the size of the transverse retainer aperture 19', considered longitudinally of main shank 11, is such that retainer nut 21 does not bind therein to limit the degree of pivoting of movable shank 14 and such pivoting is instead limited by engagement of movable shank 14 with retainer member 17 and main shank 11. Thus movable shank 14 is pivotable between a first position wherein its forward side contacts main shank 11 adjacent stationary jaw 12 and its rear side abuts that rear edge of passageway 18 remote from stationary jaw 12, as shown in Figure 2, and a second position wherein its forward side compresses the spring 23 and its rear side abuts that rear edge of passageway 18 adjacent stationary jaw 12, as shown in Figure 3. These two positions may be termed engaged and released positions inasmuch as movable jaw 13 is so disposed in the two positions, and there may be provided means for urging movable shank 14 into engaged position; as for example the single leaf spring 23 attached at one end to main shank 11 on the handle end thereof from retainer member 17 and extending into passageway 18 between main and movable shanks 11 and 14 respectively. With spring 23 having a normally arcuate configuration as shown, it urges the threaded end of movable shank 14 away from main shank 11 and thereby pivots movable jaw 13 into engaged position.

Considering now the jaw structure, it was above noted that stationary jaw 12 is generally planar and that movable jaw 13 is disposed in confronting relation thereto. Movable jaw 13 consists of two generally planar surfaces 24 and 26, which are preferably serrated, and are disposed end-to-end slightly out of alignment so that movable jaw 13 has a very wide V-shaped section as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Jaw surfaces 24 and 26 are disposed at equal small acute angles A to a movable jaw base line 27 which extends normal to a longitudinal axis of the movable shank 14 and jaw surfaces 24 and 26 thus define an included obtuse angle. With regard to the particular angular relationships of the jaws, which are of importance with respect to the advantageous en gaging and disengaging action provided by the present invention, there is provided a correlation between the respective jaw angles and the angle through which the movable jaw 13 pivots. Thus the acute angle A between either jaw section 24 or 26 and the base line 27 is made equal to the total angle through which movable shank 14 and attached jaw 13 pivots. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the angle at which stationary jaw 12 is set upon main shank 11 is made equal to one-half the pivot angle of movable shank 14 so that with movable shank 14 fully pivoted into engaged position, the base line 27 of the movable jaw 13 is disposed parallel to stationary jaw 12 so that movable jaw sections 24 and 26 are disposed at equal angles to stationary jaw 12 to provide therewith a maximum gripping action. This gripping action is particularly efiective in that both movable jaw surfaces and the stationary jaw present fiat surfaces to the member therebetween for maximum contact therebetween. With the total angle through which movable shank 14 pivots equal to the angle between each of the movable jaw sections 24 and 26 and the base line 27 it will be appreciated that pivoting movable shank 14 to release or disengage position rotates movable jaw 13 into a position wherein the outer surface 26 thereof is parallel to stationary jaw 12 so that substantially no gripping is produced therebetween. As a further improvement of the engage-release action of the jaws, the teeth upon movable jaw 13 are preferably sloped inwardly of jaw 13 toward the shank 14 thereof so as to provide a surface which grips a member moved thereacross in one direction and offers substantially no impedance to movement of such a member thereacross in the opposite direction.

Considering now the operation of the embodiment of the invention above described such will be seen to be ex tremely simple, for all that is required to turn a member such as a pipe 28 is to rotate retainer nut 21 to move movable shank 14 in position to dispose movable jaw 13 in contact with one side of the pipe while stationary jaw 12 contacts the other side. Main shank 11 is then urged away from the rear end of the movable shank 14 as indicated by the arrow in Figure 2 by manual operation of the handle thereon and the pipe 28, being firmly engaged by jaws 12 and 13, is rotated thereby. Movement of main shank 11 in the opposite direction or toward the rear end of the movable shank 14 as indicated by the arrow in Figure 3 pivots the jaws into released position and out of engagement with the pipe so that the wrench is easily rotated upon the pipe to a new position wherein a further turning of the pipe may be readily accomplished. Aside from the original jaw adjustment to the particular pipe size no further operation is required other than the back and forth movement of the main shank handle which thereby rotates the pipe for repeated engagement and disengagement therewith on alternate handle strokes in opposite directions.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved pipe wrench comprising a main shank having a handle formed thereon, a substantially planar stationary jaw connected to one end of said main shank at an acute angle to a line perpendicular to a longitudinal axis thereof, a movable jaw disposed in confronting relation to said stationary jaw and having inner and outer substantially planar surfaces, said movable jaw having a shank extending along said main shank, said inner and outer planar surfaces defining an obtuse angle and being disposed at equal acute angles to a base line perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said movable jaw shank, each of the acute angles being twice as large as said first named acute angle, and mounting means upon said main shank engaging said movable shank for moving said movable jaw relative to said stationary jaw to vary the distance therebetween, said mounting means pivotally mounting said movable shank for rocking movement between two limiting positions, the total angle of rocking movement being equal to each of said equal acute angles, whereby said jaws are relatively swingable between a workengaging position disposing said stationary jaw parallel to the base line of said movable jaw and a workreleasing position disposing said stationary jaw parallel to the outer planar surface of said movable jaw, so that said jaws automatically engage and release in response to the direction of swing of said main shank.

2. An improved pipe wrench comprising a flat stationary jaw having transverse serrations therein, a main shank connected to and extending from said stationary jaw, said jaw forming an acute angle with a line perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said shank, a movable jaw disposed opposite said stationary jaw and including a shank, said movable jaw including a pair of transversely serrated surfaces disposed at equal acute angles to a line perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said movable shank to include an obtuse angle therebetween, said movable shank being mounted upon said main shank for movement therealong to vary the separation of said jaws and for rocking movement through an angle equal to the acute angle between said movable jaw line and either of said serrated surfaces from a first limiting position disposing said movable jaw line parallel to said stationary jaw to a second limiting position disposing that movable jaw serrated surface which is located furthest from said movable shank parallel to said stationary jaw.

3. An improved pipe wrench comprising a main shank, a planar stationary jaw connected to one end of said main shank and forming an acute angle with a line perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said shank, an apertured retaining member extending from one side of said main shank, a movable threaded shank extending through said member and along said side of said main shank, a retainer nut threaded upon said movable shank and loosely contained by said retainer member, said nut being rockable within said retainer member whereby said main shank can be rocked between first and second limiting positions, the total angle of rocking movement being substantially twice said first mentioned acute angle, and a movable jaw extending from one end of said movable shank and confronting said stationary jaw for cooperation therewith to clamp elements therebetween, said movable jaw having two serrated surfaces defining an obtuse angle therebetween, said surfaces being disposed to form equal acute angles with a base line disposed perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said movable shank, each of said equal acute angles being substantially equal to the total angle of rocking movement of said movable jaw.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 18,135 Clark Sept. 8, 1857 639,162 Fjellrnan Dec. 12, 1899 792,560 Tenney June 13, 1905 936,804 Patton Oct. 12, 1909 937,562 Anderholm Oct. 19, 1909 1,495,751 Larson May 27, 1924 1,709,794 Konzelman Apr. 16, 1929 1,862,002 Brungardt June 7, 1932 

